Speaking in Other College Courses

Speaking in Technical Courses

What are the technical disciplines? They include the range of engineering fields (mechanical, electrical, chemical, civil, aeronautical, and nuclear, among others), computer-science-oriented fields (computer and software engineering), and design-oriented fields (industrial design, architecture, graphic design).

Oral presentations in technical courses often focus on the design of a product or system, whether it is a set of plans for a building, a prototype robot, or an innovative computer-circuit design. Of the various types of presentations assigned in technical courses, the design review is perhaps the most common. Other types of presentations include the request for funding and the progress report (see Chapter 30 for information on progress reports).

Engineering Design Review

The engineering design review explains the problem-solving steps in devising a product or system in response to an identified need. Virtually all capstone-engineering courses require that students prepare design reviews, which are generally informative in nature—although their purpose may include convincing the audience that the design decisions are sound. (In varying formats, design reviews are also assigned in basic science and mathematics courses.) Design reviews may incorporate a prototype (model) demonstration and are usually delivered as team presentations or in poster sessions. Design reviews typically include the following:

Identification of problem to be solved/need to be met and overview of objectives
Description of the design concept and specifications
Discussion of any experimental testing that has been completed on the design
Discussion of future plans and unresolved problems
Discussion of schedule, budget, and marketing issues

Architecture Design Review

The architecture design review combines two functions: It enables the audience to visualize the design, and it sells it. A narrative approach, in which you tell the “story” of the design, combined with a spatial organizational pattern, in which you arrange main points in order of physical proximity within the design, can help you do this. At a minimum, architecture design reviews typically cover:

Background on the site
Discussion of the design concept
Description and interpretation of the design

Request for Funding

In the request for funding presentation, a team member or the entire team provides evidence that a project, proposal, or design idea is worth funding. Requests for funding usually cover the following ground:

Overview of customer specifications and needs
Analysis of the market and its needs
Overview of the design idea or project and how it meets those needs
Projected costs for the project
Specific reasons why the project or idea should be funded

Preparing Effective Technical Presentations

Technical presentations sell ideas, provide hard data, use concrete imagery, rely on visual aids, and are results oriented:³

Sell your ideas. The technical presenter must persuade clients, managers, or classmates that a design, an idea, or a product is a good one. As one instructor notes, “You can never assume that your product or design will just sell—you have to do that.”⁴
Provide hard data. Good technical presentations are detailed and specific and use numbers as evidence. Instead of general, sweeping statements, provide hard data and clearly stated experimental results.
Use ample presentation aids. Use diagrams, prototypes, and drawings—including design specifications, computer simulations, physical models, and spreadsheets. Construct aids early in the process, and practice the presentation with them.
Use concrete imagery to help listeners visualize how your design will function and appear.
Lead with the results. Technical disciplines such as engineering are about results—the end product. When organizing your presentation, consider telling the audience the most important result first. Then fill in the details.⁵
Gear the information to the appropriate level. Typically, people who attend technical presentations possess a range of technical knowledge, from little or none to an expert understanding of the topic at hand.

Professionals working in technical fields observe three major obstacles to designing and delivering a successful technical presentation: (1) too much information crammed into aids, (2) insufficient preparation with fellow team members, and (3) failure to select an appropriate organization and structure for the presentation.⁶ Keeping these pitfalls in mind during preparation will set you on a winning path.